When Do Friendships Help Versus Hurt? Perceived Best Friend Victimization and Support as Moderators of Peer Victimization-Related Distress

Although high-quality friendships are presumed to protect peer-victimized adolescents from distress, evidence supporting this claim is mixed. This study investigated whether the protective function of high-quality best friendships for victimized youth varies depending on adolescents’ perceptions of their best friend’s victimization. Among a sample of 1,667 eighth graders, we tested the effects of self-perceived victimization, best friend...